One kickoff time eliminated for Tennessee football's game at Florida on September 16
The kickoff time for Tennessee football’s September 16 game at Florida has not yet been set, but one time slot has officially been eliminated. CBS Sports on Tuesday afternoon announced its 2023 SEC on CBS broadcast schedule and windows, including South Carolina at Georgia as the game of the week on September 16.
Georgia at South Carolina at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time on CBS was one of five matchups announced. Air Force at Navy will be on CBS at Noon ET on Saturday, October 14, a CBS doubleheader followed by the SEC CBS Game of the Week at 3:30.
Georgia at Florida will be the 3:30 p.m. ET game on October 14, Missouri will play at Arkansas at 4 p.m. ET on November 24 and the Army-Navy game will be a 3 p.m. ET kickoff on December 9. CBS will have SEC doubleheaders on October 14 and November 4.
Dating back to 1996, when the CBS SEC Game of the Week made its debut, Tennessee and Florida has been featured 15 times in the 3:30 p.m. time slot. It was an 8 p.m. CBS kickoff in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2005 and 2006. The game kicked off at 7 p.m. in 2021 and 2018.
The Vols and Gators started at 6 p.m. in 2012. The 2001 game, which was moved to the first Saturday in December after the September 11 terrorist attacks, was a 4:30 p.m. kickoff. It was a noon game 2003, 2014 and 2019.
ESPN’s FPI projects Vols to go 8-4 this season
ESPN’s FPI predicts Tennessee will go 8-4 in 2023 — the projected win-loss record is 8.2-3.9 —and gives the Vols a 98.1 percent chance to win at least six games. They have a 5.4 percent chance to win the SEC East, a 1.2 percent chance to win the SEC and a 2.5 percent chance to make the College Football Playoff. There’s an 0.7 percent chance to make the national championship game and an 0.2 percent chance to win the title.
Ohio State is No. 1 in the FPI, ahead of No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 LSU and No. 5 Texas. Michigan is No. 6, followed by No. 7 USC, No. 8 Clemson, No. 9 Notre Dame, No. 10 Penn State and No. 11 Oklahoma.
Ole Miss is No. 16, Florida is No. 18 and Texas A&M is 19. Kentucky is No. 28, Arkansas is No. 30 and Mississippi State is No. 32. Auburn is No. 39, one spot ahead of No. 40 Missouri. South Carolina is No. 42 and Vanderbilt is No. 73.
Tennessee opens season September 2 vs. Virginia in Nashville
The Vols open the season with the neutral-state game against Virginia September 2 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. They open the home schedule at Neyland Stadium on September 9 against Austin Peay and go on the road to open the SEC schedule at Florida on September 16.
Tennessee hosts UTSA on September 30 and opens its SEC home schedule against South Carolina on September 30. Texas A&M comes to Knoxville on October 14 and the Vols play back-to-back road games at Alabama on October 21 and Kentucky on October 28.
The Vols play UConn at home on November 4, go to Missouri on November 11 and host Georgia on November 18, before closing the regular-season schedule against Vanderbilt on November 25. Virginia is ranked No. 83 in the FPI and UConn is No. 120.
